PreNT
by adijia
Summary: When Ryuu and Mitsu find themselves in Hell they are saved by a mysterious girl, who turns out to be the spawn of Satan and enslaves to two to be her minions. She claims she wants to take over the world but who knows how this will end up?
1. The End

This wasn't how it was supposed to end. Not so soon. Not like this. I sat in my cell looking out the small barred window. It was a grubby little cell, mostly because no one ever stayed in it long and because no one cared about the ones sentenced to it. I sat up from my bed wondering why it was there. It seemed like some sort of sick joke. There was no way I was going to sleep. It wasn't how I wanted to spend my last moments. The events leading up to this hardly seem important anymore. I'm just glad that no one was left to see me like this. Well that's not totally true, there is her… but she knows I'd rather not have her see this.  
"Hey, Hero killer time to go." The guard called to me from the door.  
I looked up lifelessly. The guard shuddered. I guess he wasn't used to getting that look from an 8-year old kid. I got up and made my way to the door. I glanced toward a dirty crooked mirror that was hanging on a dirty crooked wall. I almost flinched at the reflection. My face was dirty, my unnaturally red hair was sticking up in odd places and my face was covered in a layer of grime. But the worst part was my eyes, they were washed out and pale. Now I understood why the guard had shuddered. I continued through the jail, with the cold metal of my handcuffs biting into my wrists. I knew were I was going, it was just up these stairs and to the left, out the big front doors to were hundreds of townsfolk would be gathered to watch the life of the villain be taken by the guillotine. I followed the guard to the doors, almost glad to see the light of day for the first time in months. I glanced upwards, there was a cool breeze drifting by, I could just barley make out the sun from the overcast. Great, the one day I though it would be nice to have nice weather it was like this. Oh well it didn't really matter anyway. They led me up the steps and locked my head in place. I looked around and heard their mutterings.

"Such a young kid, I can't believe he did that"  
"He deserves it! He killed the one who was protecting us!"  
"The man took him in when his parents died and look at how he returned him!"  
"Doesn't h behave a sister, what's going to happen to her?"

That last one was a good question. I know that she can take care of herself. It's my only regret that I'm leaving her alone in this world. I wondered what she would do.

"This is the public execution for the murderer of Saint Joseph Abramson." The preaching guard announced. I'm not sure why he did though, everyone knew who I was, what I had done…

"The Defendant Ryuu has been found guilty and is sentenced to be decapitated by the guillotine.  
I saw the executioner let the blade fall, and there was a searing pain in my neck. Just before I couldn't I muttered something. It was so quiet that I doubt anyone heard it. But I had said it none the less.  
"I'll see you later Mitsu."

And that _should_ have been the end of my story.  
But of course it wasn't, that would have been too easy.


	2. Hell

I never thought I would end like this. My brother, my parents and my adoptive father are all dead. It wasn't fair. It's like not our care taker didn't deserve it, but they still killed my brother for it. He was just protecting me and I think it should be ok. I looked up at the sky, if I squinted I could barley see the sun through the overcastting sky. I was all alone now. I was standing on a grassy hill outside the village, so I could see its residents moving about their lives. As if nothing happened, as if the hadn't just killed their savior. I glanced at a nearby tree with a fairly thick mid-height branch. That would do. I got on the stool that I had lugged out here. I borrowed it from Mrs. Jenny; I wish I could return it. I tied the rope to the tree and made a noose, just like Ryuu showed me how to when we were trying to make a fort. I fit it around my neck and softly uttered what should have been my last words.  
"I'll see you later Ryuu."

And that _should_ have been the end of my story.  
But of course it wasn't, that would have been too easy.

**And back to Ryuu…**

The next thing I knew I was standing. This both confused me AND pissed me off. Was I dead? Alive? I haven't got a clue.  
"You're dead." A voice answered.  
I turned to the voice and immediately wished I hadn't. Standing about two feet away from me was a… well actually I haven't got a clue what it was. It had a humanoid like shape, but it's skin was blood red, it had long talons instead of fingernails and it looked like it was about to kill me. But apparently I was dead. That was unexpected.  
Then it dawned on me.  
"Holy Shit I think I'm in hell" I muttered. That would explain why his surroundings looked like the inside of a volcano…  
But no, he couldn't be in hell, that's were all the bad people went. He hadn't done anything wrong. He had sacrificed himself for the good of others, he had done the right thing, and so why was he here? This didn't make sense.  
"Let me guess… Oh my god, I don't deserve this, why me? Ect. Ect. Well if you're here then that means you must have sinned. End of story." The demon said to me. I took up a defensive stance. "Who are you?" I asked it.  
"Me? I'm what you might call a demon of hell, I take souls from here and bring them to their respective level of hell."  
"Level of hell?"  
"Yes, level of hell. There are quite a few. Each crime has a different level and you… Oh wow a kid killer! Don't get those often." The demon looked at me with mild interest. "Ryuu was it? Well I'm gonna hurry this up a bit because there's a little girl who just committed suicide that I need to take care of, oh whoops I guess she's here already"  
I followed it's gaze and my eyes fell on the last person I wanted to see here.  
"Mitsu!" I cried in a mixture of shock and horror. Why was she here? She was dead too? What had that demon said… suicide?!?  
"Mitsu! You idiot! You killed yourself? I told you that you could live with Mrs. Jenny! Why would you do this…? Why…" I sobbed. My sister was dead. That was the reality.  
" I'm sorry Ryuu!" Mitsu cried "I just didn't want to have to be alone…"  
I sighed, that sounded like something she would do.  
"Oh now isn't this cute? You two know each other! Well I hate to split up a family, but it's time for you two to face eternal punishment." The demon chuckled.  
I got between the monster and Mitsu. I could probably take him.  
"I won't let you hurt her!" I told it. The creature laughed.  
"You think you can stop me?!" He grinned, and then he turned violent. "A little kid like you, defy a Demon?!?" He laughed.  
Ok now I wasn't so sure I could take him.  
He charged forward and I panicked. I shut my eyes and prepared for impact.  
It didn't come. I opened my eyes, bewildered.  
"Yea I don't think they can stop you. But I can." It sounded like a teenage girl!  
I looked up to asses the situation. The girl had green hair and pale blue eyes. She was wearing a red shirt and some black pants. And she had also stopped a demon in mid-charge with her _finger_. It was squarely in the center of the demon's terrified face.  
"Y-you, what are you doing here?" It stuttered.  
"What, I can't get out of the house once in a while?" She joked before hurling the demon 20 feet in the air. A few moments later he landed with a bone chilling –CRUNCH–  
She whistled "Wow he flew far didn't he?"  
I looked at the girl in bewilderment. I had no idea whose side she was on. I hoped it was the same one we were on. She turned to me and looked me in the eye, then broke contact.  
"Well I've got better things to do that defend two little munchkins, so you guys have fun." She chimed as she turned to leave.  
"W-wait! What do you mean _the rest of them_?" I asked.  
"You didn't think that there was only one of them did you? Oh no, there are thousands of demons living down here. They'll have figured out something was wrong by now. And they'll be pissed that one of their own is dead. So I'm gonna split before they show up."  
I was actually speechless. But luckily Mitsu wasn't.  
"So you're just going to leave us here?" She asked, terrified.  
"Yea pretty much" The girl said indifferently. "Why, you guys wanna come?"  
I couldn't say anything so I just nodded.  
"Well I suppose I could take you with me, but there's only one condition…"  
"What? We'll do anything!" I cried.  
She seemed to consider something for a second. "Well you would have to become my minions." She smiled.  
"Your _what_?!?" I asked.  
"M-I-N-I-O-N-S. Kind of like slaves, but undead, I'll need both of you as well. So what's your answer?" She asked.

I thought for a second. This person didn't seem evil, and I they stayed then they'd be dragged into burning pits for eternity. And besides, I wasn't going to give up a chance to live again. I looked back at Mitsu, who just nodded.  
"Fine, we'll do it. Make us you minions or whatever." I gave in.  
Then I felt a searing pain in my back a yell from behind me told me that Mitsu had felt it too.  
"And that binds the contract." She grinned. "Now you two are bound to me for eternity"  
I only had one question left that I needed to know the answer to.  
"Who are you?" I asked.  
The girl looked over her shoulder to me. "Me? Well I won't go into detail, but I'm Hatori Nyx. Your new master."


	3. Escape

"Seriously! It's been hours! Why can't we leave?!" I demanded after my annoyance surpassed my fear of Hatori Nyx. We had been walking for what seemed like hours. My feet were sore and I was tiered. We would walk in one direction for a while and then Hatori would stop and start off in another direction. We had just made our 8th redirect when I snapped.  
"Calm down Kid, I'm looking for something." Hatori yawned.  
"But what about those demons you said were coming after us?!" I raged.  
"Oh those? Yeah I wouldn't be too worried about them…" Hatori trailed off.  
"Why? Is it because you can slay them?" Mitsu spoke up.

"No, it's because they won't be coming after you guys." Hatori grinned.  
"Wha-What do you mean they won't be coming after us?!? You said they would be! That's the whole reason we're doing this!" I yelled again, now I stopped walking completely and so did Mitsu. Hatori didn't seem to care though, she continued in the same direction.  
"Well they would have come eventually, I figured if I didn't pressure you guys you wouldn't have come willingly." She yelled back to us. God, the only reason that that pissed me off was because it made sense. I gave in and kept walking. So what exactly are we looking for?" I asked.  
"We aren't looking for anything." Hatori started.  
"What- Then what have we been doing all this time?!?!"  
"Calm down and let me finish. We're not looking for anything; but I'm looking for a place where the borders off Hell can be crossed. And before you ask, the borders of Hell are exactly that; The Borders between Hell and Earth. So if we wanna get back I've got to find a place were we can cross over." Hatori answered my question before I asked it.  
"Um… Hatori?" Mitsu asked.  
"Yes little one?"  
"You can get rid of the monsters right?"  
"Right"  
"That's good because there's a bunch of them over there…" Mitsu said pointing to a cloud in the distance. Wait no, that wasn't a cloud. It looked more like a flock. Of demons. Fuck.  
"Well that was way faster then expected" Hatori whistled.  
"You _expected_ this? I thought you said they weren't after us!" I complained.  
"Well first off I said that they weren't after _you guys_, and second off, stop giving me that look Ryuu. You really thought someone like me could run around enslaving souls in Hell without being in trouble?" Hatori glared at me.  
"Now I have a plan; we're close enough to the border, but I need to take care of those guys before we leave. So I want you two to close your eyes." As soon as she said it our eyes closed.  
"What the Hell?!?" I tried to open my eyes and failed. I tried again to no avail.  
"Remember the whole _you guys are my minions now _thing? Yea nuf said." Hatori must have said. I couldn't see anything so I just gave in and used my other senses. The most apparent one was hearing.

"This was cute while it lasted, but you're coming back with us now." A demonic voice uttered.  
"No thanks, I never did like the color scheme here anyway." Hatori sighed. With that I felt my collar being pulled and my body being lifted off the ground. There was a steady beat of wings above me. I was about to use my usual _What the Hell_ line when I opened my eyes. The reason we were in the air was because Hatori was carrying us. And she had _wings_. I looked up at Hatori and caught a quick glance of her slightly strained face before my eyes closed again.  
"What are you?" I asked her.

"I'm the spawn of Satan, and you guys are my minions." She answered.  
"Why would the spawn of Satan need minions?" I asked skeptically.  
"Because, my small slow friend. I'm going to take over the world." She laughed.


	4. Back on earth

**The only reason I can get myself to write this is because I've gotten 18 hits and 10 visitors for November on this story. I just wish you people would comment more… Seriously! The only people that comment are people I know irl. Grr…  
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I had escaped from hell, Become a minion to a spawn of Satan and discovered that her mission was to destroy the world. So why was I doing _laundry?!_ The sun was hot outside and I wiped the sweat off my forehead with my sleeve. As soon as we had surfaced I bombarded Hatori with questions, all of which she deflected with great skill. I groaned.  
"What's wrong Ryuu?" Mitsu asked. I looked her way. Mitsu was my twin sister but I'm pretty sure I was born first. We both had our trademark bright red hair and green eyes. Mine had grown out a bit since I was in jail, but Mitsu's was trimmed to perfection. I remembered that Mitsu had asked me a question and came back to my senses.  
"Well, we're supposed to be taking over the world right? So why are we not?" I asked.  
Since we got here all we had done was figure out where we were (Apparently somewhere called _Germany_) and take over an abandoned house we found. The Satan spawn went in first so I wasn't really sure how 'abandoned' the place had originally been. She then proceeded to order us to cook, clean and do various chores. Mitsu did most of the cooking since I didn't know how and I did all the hard work. This had continued for the last three days, except for today. Today the Satan Spawn had left us on our own while she went to a nearby town.  
"Maybe she has some sort of evil plan?" Mitsu suggested. I shrugged, I didn't particularly care if she took over the world or not, it had pretty much forsaken us. But I didn't do well with being ordered around.  
"Hey Mitsu, Cover for me if The Satan Spawn comes back." I said starting my way into the house.  
"What are you going to do?, Hey Ryuu! Don't ignore me!" I ignored her.

Inside our little house I looked around for what I would need for my little plan. I wasn't about to give in and be a slave for all eternity. The Satan spawn hadn't asked us to do anything too bad yet, but I wasn't about to take any chances. A Satan spawn was like a demon, so what killed demons? Ransacked the kitchen, and found some garlic. Score! Next I took on the cutlery drawer. There was a knife that looked tarnished… so it must be silver! I grabbed that two and went into the woods near the cottage to start working on another weapon.

"Mitsu, Where is Ryuu?" The Satan spawn asked. I glared at her from the tree I was hiding in. Time to take action! I stepped forward and promptly fell out of the tree. And by the way, the ground is very hard.  
"Oh there you are Ryuu! I was just thinking how I needed some firewood.-"  
"Oh shut up! I'm not gonna listen to you anymore!" I yelled angrily. I charged forward and threw the contents of my pockets at her, which apparently didn't do anything.  
"Is that _garlic? _And what are you doing with the cutlery?" She asked as calm as ever. Fine, maybe my first idea didn't work, but there was one thing left. I reached into my shirt pocket and pulled out a poorly made wooden cross. I had just spent the last hour figuring out how to make a cross from sticks in a forest. Needless to say it's very hard. I flung the cross in her general direction and watched as she dodged it flawlessly. "Are we done playing now?" she asked. "Because I'm getting bored and hungry. So let's make some food now." Of course by let's make some food, she meant: You two make some food while I sit around staring into space. I sighed and went to pick up my discarded cross, but The Satan spawn beat me to it. She crunched it under her heel muttering: "Kids these days, they just don't listen to their elders". Once again I had been beaten, but I wouldn't give up now. She dodged the cross and destroyed it afterwards. I found a weakness in our master.

* * *

**COMMENT DAMNIT**!  
**That is all.**


	5. This is normal for us

Apparently weaknesses are over rated. A year ago today was when I first noticed that I could use any holy type thing as a weapon against the Satan spawn. And it only took about 53 assassination attempts for me to discover that even if you know someone's weakness it's still hard to defeat a spawn of freaking Satan. Yea, go figure. Today I was stationed around the side of our cottage, holding something that had taken me a while to find. It was a clear sunny day out side when the Satan spawn walked up to the house. She immediately noticed my absence and scanned my usual hiding places. Of course she didn't check my newest one.

"Oh come on Ryuu. I'm not in the mood. Don't you know that this never works? Every week I go do some shopping in town, and every week you try, and fail, to kill me. Doesn't this get old?" The Satan Spawn yawned.  
"I think it's been like 53 times already…" Mitsu added. I rolled my eyes. Good to know my sister still believes in me.  
"So where are you hiding now? Around the side of the house with that pistol you found in the woods last week?" The Satan spawn called.

How- Wha-….  
I stepped out from the side of the house. "I don't like you" I told her.  
"Good to know" she laughed. I dropped my arms to my sides and started to walk towards her. She looked at me with some bizarre amusement. Don't worry, it won't last long. In a flash I brought up the silver handgun that I had spent the past week making holy water bullets for. I suppose I had hoped the element of surprise would help. I didn't, but it totally should of. Apparently aiming is hard on the fly.  
"Did you just try to shoot me?" She asked.  
"Yea." I muttered  
"Well that was rude"  
I sighed, another failed attempt. I handed her the gun and started making dinner.  
"Don't forget to not fail at cooking this time!" She called.  
"Yea, yea." I muttered.****

Later that night I was lying in bed wondering. I was wondering about lots of things. There were lots of things to wonder about. I'd noticed that over the last year none of us had aged. It was weird, but then again this whole situation was. Another thing that got to me was the Satan spawn. I was sure that at one point during our escape I had seen Horns and a tail on her. Now there was nothing… The fact that she had wings didn't bother me much though, even up here that was normal, one of my old friend had paws instead of hands. There was also me and Mitsu; we were physically stronger then before. I'm assuming the Satan spawn played a part in that. The last thing was the same thing that had bugged me a year ago. _Weren't we supposed to be taking over the world?_ Seriously! We hadn't accomplished anything and all me and Mitsu had been ordered to do were chores!  
I'm sick of it.

**And like that another four years passed. Eventually Ryuu's assassination attempts stopped and he stopped sucking at cooking. Hatori started taking her minions into town with her to get food. How she paid for it? Honesty I have no idea. All remained peaceful until one morning when life got a tad more complicated. **__

It was a sunny morning in spring, the birds were chirping, the trees were blooming and there was a gun up to the side of my head.  
Wait what?

I woke up from my sleep and noticed that yes, there was s barrel of a gun up to the side of my head. I turned around to see a mob in me and Mitsu's room. I barley had time to think. The mob was made up of several towns people and a priest. The one with the gun looked both excited and terrified.  
"Don't worry, the power of god will protect us as we cleanse the world of these demons" The priest assured the townspeople. He motioned to someone behind me and I turned around a second too late. I felt an immense pain on the back of my head and tasted blood.

I blacked out.


	6. It was Dark

It was dark. And cold. It was dark and cold. My eyes were closed and I became aware of the fact that I was lying down. My head rested on someone's lap. I tried to get up but a sharp pain in the back of my skull stopped me.  
"Looks like he isn't quite dead yet." That was the Satan spawn. But her voice came from right above me. My sense of spatial awareness and I realized that if a voice of a person was coming from above me then that meant that the person that had to be above me. My eyes snapped open and I found myself looking at the Satan spawns face.  
"Ohmygodwhatthehell!" I shouted getting up off her lap and I remembered why I hadn't already. "Oww!" I added and let myself fall into her lap anyway.  
"If I wasn't going to throw-up as soon as I got up I wouldn't be in your lap." I groaned. Then suddenly I remembered that I wasn't an only child. "Mitsu!" I tried to get up again with the same result as the last two times.  
"Don't worry I'm fine." Mitsu called from the other side of the… cell? We were in a _cell!?!_

"Yes child whose face is easier to read then a book, we are in fact in a cell." The Satan spawn mocked. "Before you ask, we're in the village jail. They seem to have come to the conclusion that we're evil demons who need to be purged of this world. Wonder where they got that idea?"

It took me a minute to get what was wrong with this picture. But now that I had noticed I saw no logical explanation for it. Capturing Mitsu and I was one thing, but the Satan spawn? How the hell had they managed that? And why hadn't she just escaped? I voiced my thoughts.  
"As for why I haven't just godmoded us out of here, I can't. Unfortunately the villagers made the connection to the fact that demons and Satan spawns don't deal well with holy places. So they locked us up in a church. At the moment my powers are very limited."

"There's a jail cell in the church?" I asked.  
"Apparently." She grinned.  
"What about my other question? Are you gonna answer that one too?"  
The Satan spawn shifted uncomfortably. I looked from her to Mitsu and back.  
"What?" I asked, slowly trying to sit up so I could see them properly.  
"After they knocked you out the villagers used me and you as hostages. Hatori didn't attack them because they said that they'd blow your head clean off." Mitsu muttered. I was shocked. The Satan spawn actually did that? I looked at her but she just looked away.  
"Well looks like we're gonna be stuck in here for a while." The Satan spawn said in an attempt to change the subject.  
"Why? How long was I out for?" I asked.  
"Oh about 12 hours. They're planning on holding a trial in the morning." My face lit up a bit at the thought of a trial. They couldn't prove that we were demons! "Don't get your hopes up kid; it's a trial for two witches and a warlock, so it'll hardly be a fair one." S this was it? My second chance at life came down to _this? _I sighed and looked up to the grubby ceiling. Why did all these things happen to us?  
"Hey Satan spawn. Why did you come up here in the first place? Don't you already rule Hell? Why go for the rest of the world too?" I'd wanted to ask that ever since we'd met. I just figured she was a power hungry monster. But if what Mitsu said was true then…  
"How 'bout a deal? If I tell you why I want to rule the world, then you have to tell me how you two ended up in hell." I looked at the Satan spawn.  
"Fine." I agreed.  
"Well then I guess its story time."


	7. Story Time

I grinned "So who's going first?"  
Hatori glanced out the window so small I hadn't even noticed. "I think you two should go first." She said.  
"We- I" I tried to start. Telling people this kind of thing was hard. "Back when Mitsu and I were alive we lived this saint guy because our parents died when we were young. The saint said that the raiders had killed them-"

"Does this saint have a name?" Hatori asked.  
"Well yea, he was Saint Joseph Abramson. He took us in and he was a hero to our village. Once every couple months the raiders would come around to attack our village, He would tell everyone to stay inside while he dealt with them. He'd meet them about a half a mile out of town and scare them off. Everyone was so grateful; they would give him tributes and portions of their crops, even when the times were hard. None of this mess would have happened if it wasn't for one of my friends asking me something stupid. He asked me to find out how the saint got rid of the raiders. The raiders were built men, hardened from years of combat and the saint wasn't exactly the most fearsome man. I took this as a challenge and next time he told us all to stay in I secretly followed him" I stopped for a moment and looked down. "I followed him and watched him go up to the raiders; they greeted him like a _friend. _They asked him how he was getting along and how much cash he had managed to get from the gullible towns folk. He grinned and replied that the uneducated villagers didn't even question his bizarre actions. At this point I turned around and snuck back to the village." I sighed.  
"Why?" Hatori asked.  
"Because even though that bastard had been fooling all of us for years, he was surrounded by allies. I may be reckless, but I'm not stupid." I paused momentarily trying to get my train of thought back. "I waited until he returned to the house and confronted him. I told him that I knew that those raiders were his friends and that he was nothing more than a swindler. But I also told him that since I owed him something for taking me and Mitsu in, I would give him the chance to turn himself in. He just laughed at this. I asked him what was so funny. He laughed for a bit longer before telling me that he had killed my parents so he could have two servants who would do whatever he told them and that now that I knew he was going to kill me. Now ordinarily in this kind of situation I would have panicked and been killed but then Mitsu walked into the room." I shrugged.  
"I guess she had heard commotion and was wondering what was going on, but it's a good thing that she did. The saint decided that I must have told my sister about him too. He pulled out a hidden blade and went after Mitsu. Probably because she was closer to him than I was, either way I looked around for a weapon of some sort. I found a short letter opener. I held it like a dagger and jumped him. I stabbed him in were I assumed his heart was. I must have hit it because after one last breath he dropped dead. Just then a villager walked in, having heard the noise. I told everyone my story, but with no success. I told then what he had done but no one believed me. I managed to convince them that Mitsu hadn't had anything to do with this, but aside from that the legal system had their way. I was imprisoned and then decapitated about a month later."  
Hatori whistled. "I guess that's were your problems with authority came from." She laughed coldly.

I swallowed; it felt good to tell someone all of this, and now my reward. "So, now it's your turn. What's the deal with you?"

"Me? Well I'd tell you, but I don't think we'll have time for that." Hatori grinned.

"What? Why not?" I had just finished asking before pair of armed guards came up to the barred doors. "Come on let's go" They told us. They brought us out to a courtyard with three stakes surrounded by kindling.  
"Th-they're going to burn us?" I stuttered unable to believe what I was seeing. "What about the trial?"  
"I guess they decided to skip that part." Hatori yawned. Seriously, how could anyone stay calm at a time like thi- I almost tripped over a cat? How the hell did a cat get here? Whatever, at the moment I've got bigger issues. But then there was this sound. This really weird sound. It was Hatori_ laughing_?  
"So you finally decided to show up?" She grinned and picked up the cat I'd just nearly stepped on. The guards looked at her like she was crazy. Hell, I looked at her like she was crazy.  
"Well I was kinda preoccupied with my own antics, but now I have to help you with yours?" Said _the cat_. The guards were now freaking out about the talking cat and attempted to stab it with their weapons. It simply yawned as Hatori let it fall to the ground. "So what now?" She asked it.  
"Now? We leave." The cat answered.

**Yea, not my most elegant piece of writing, but for the record I'm tiered and should be working on my summative.**


	8. Loki Norse god of mischeif

Today was definitely a crappy day. Waking up with a gun to your head? Not nearly as fun as it sounds. Being locked up in a cell while telling someone your tragic life story? Also not fun. Running at top speed through a crowded town while being chased by armed guards who think you're a demon and having a cat sitting on your shoulder the whole time trying to back seat drive? Probably the worst of it all. After the talking cat showed up the rest was a bit of a blur. Hatori and the cat made a run for it, Mitsu and I tumbled after them and we almost killed ourselves in the process. Apparently running away is a skill that those two have spent way more time honing than us as where they scampered up a ladder and leaped from the stone roofs we clumsily made attempted to follow them. Our escape wasn't a graceful one, it ended with us stealing horses and hi-tailing it out of there, but it gave us time to find a main road and start on our way to a new place to live. As we made our way along the road I noticed a dark ribbon of smoke rising from the forest in the distance.  
"It's our house. They burnt it so we wouldn't have anything to go back for" The talking cat who had been pushed to the back of my mind until right about now. Of the two horses we had obtained he and Hatori had taken the lead on a chestnut mare, whose coat was remarkably similar to that of the cat's.  
"I suppose your wondering about our feline friend over here?" Hatori glanced back to us.  
"Yea just a bit." I lied. It was way more than a bit.

"If it makes you feel better he's not actually a talking cat." Hatori paused. "He's an old friend of mine who can change his form at will."  
"You have friends?" I couldn't resist. I probably should have tried harder as shortly after she leaned down and picked up a decent sized rock from the path, then proceeded to throw it at my face. Now since becoming a demon I've gained a great deal of physical strength, speed and reflexes, but that rock came really fast.  
"I guess I probably deserved that." I admitted. I heard Mitsu giggle behind me. I smiled, she was so quiet it could be worrying and it if it was my antics made her laugh then I was OK with that.  
"What's it's name?" I asked Hatori. This time it was her turn to laugh. The cat glared at her.  
"My name is Loki and I'll have you know that I only keep this form to be less conspicuous." The cat stretched now mildly annoyed. "As soon as I get some clothes I'll be back in a human form."  
"So you can change forms? What are you?" I asked him.

"I'm a god." He grinned, well as much as a cat could.

Under most circumstances this would have seemed odd to me, but I was a dead kid traveling with the spawn of Satan. This was within the realm of normality.

"If you're a god then what are you doing here and how do you know Hatori?" Mitsu asked him. Loki gave Hatori a look and seemed to think out loud.

"Really, you haven't told them that story yet? It's been like 5 years!" He seemed genuinely shocked.

"What? What happened?" I asked realizing that this could be my only chance to get some answers.

"Well about a hundred years ago I showed up and Hatori-" Loki started.  
"How about we save story time for later" Hatori interrupted him by knocking him off the horse. He let out a yelp of surprise before plummeting into the ground. I guess she wasn't I a hurry to share this story.

"Oh and by the way as soon as we find a new town we all have to get jobs" Hatori left Loki running to catch up to the horses.  
I asked her why.  
"Well my money was in the house and now it's burned to the ground" I thought for a second before realizing how much sense that made.

"I have a question" Loki's voice came from right beside me. I whipped my head around just in time to see some small insect turn back into a tawny cat. "How do you know how to ride a horse?" I looked at him for a second before realizing that he had asked me a question.  
"Well I didn't, I'm just winging it right now." I admitted.  
"Look ahead guys! It's the next place to stir up some trouble in." Hatori grinned.


End file.
